 |
| A Jensen C-V8 climbing up to Montmartre during the 2018 Traversée de Paris. |
For more photos of the 2018 Traversée de Paris classic car event, click here.
Jensen Motors, West Bromwich, England. Alan and Richard Jensen were the brothers who set up Jensen Motors that originally built vehicle bodies and then went on to build complete cars. The Jensen C-V8 was the last Jensen with which the brothers were actively involved in the conception. It was launched in 1962 and produced until 1966. It was a two door, four seater, front engine, rear wheel drive, luxury fast sports car. It had a steel chassis, glass fibre body and was powered by big American Chrysler six litre V8 engine. Performance was exceptional for the time both in terms of straight line speed and handling.. The MkI had a top speed of 132mph and a 0-60 time of 8 seconds. The MlIII had a top speed of 139mph and a 0-60 time of under 7 seconds. With the big V8 the fuel consumption was quite high at around 13 to 14 mpg. Depending on your point of view, the Jensen is either rather beautiful or an ugly duckling. Personally, I think it is rather desirable. Only 500 were built so quite rare but quite good value as a classic car. Not often raced, it did win the 24 hour Commander's Cup at Snetterton in 1965 with a team that included Roy Salvadori. It featured in the sixties TV series The Baron and later London Spy.
